Event

Modeling of Suspended Fabric Manipulation Surface and Multi-Module Extension

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Pratik Ingle and co-authors published a paper proposing a separable catenary model for a suspended fabric robotic manipulation surface (RMS): given actuator heights, the fabric surface shape can be computed quickly, and the actuator heights required to achieve a desired local slope can also be inversely solved. The authors state that the closed-form inverse solution enables a simple PID controller to position objects on the fabric surface. On a 2×2 module prototype, the authors demonstrated that centimeter-scale objects can be transferred between modules and positioned within a 1-square-meter workspace with 0.03-meter accuracy, using only nine actuators. The model also relates fabric length, module span, and actuator stroke to the reachable workspace, providing a lower bound on minimum fabric length and design charts.